


on this home by horror haunted

by andthentheybow



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Doomsday, Gen, Minecraft IRL, Moral Ambiguity, Non-Linear Narrative, a lot of literary devices thank you ap english literature, it's spelled l'manberg i do not take criticism, no beta we die like l'manberg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:16:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28680231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andthentheybow/pseuds/andthentheybow
Summary: niki burns down the tree. wilbur blows up the nation. eret destroys the revolution.(l’manberg has always loved the number three: three deaths, three explosions, three wars, three presidents.)three defining moments in l’manberg’s history, as told by her three murderers, as written by three of her children.
Relationships: Eret & Niki | Nihachu, Eret & Wilbur Soot, Floris | Fundy & Wilbur Soot, Niki | Nihachu & Ranboo, Niki | Nihachu & Wilbur Soot, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Comments: 38
Kudos: 102





	on this home by horror haunted

**Author's Note:**

> don't be creepy about content creators, this is my interpretation of their personas, if they're uncomfortable it'll be taken down, etc etc
> 
> title is from 'the raven' by edgar allen poe

_ it was never meant to be. _

thrice are the words heard, loud enough to echo across the land.

l’manberg is a nation born of war, so it makes sense she will die of war, too. she is a nation that has never and will never know peace.

three deaths in this world. three deaths and you’re out, a ghost, left to haunt the city streets forevermore. three explosions to destroy a city raised by the children and razed by the adults that failed them. three wars to bring naught but nightmares and suffering. three presidents that each try their best, and their best is never enough. three crosses on the flag of a nation that defined an entire world.

there is a curse upon l’manberg’s land. when a nation is born of war, it is condemned to die that way. its leaders are expected to keep up the facade. its people are expected to fight. its lovers are expected to die.

eret’s legacy is this: a tree. forget the castle, forget the kingdom, forget the crown. eret’s legacy is niki nihachu, the baker, the sister, speaking their words and burning down the tree that symbolizes the very beginning of everything. the death of the tree marks the death of the country; if the tree does not survive, neither will its nation.

wilbur’s legacy is this: a control room. forget the white house, forget the symphony, forget the beanie. wilbur’s legacy is eret, the king, the watchful, speaking those words and nearly ending the revolution that started it all. the deaths of the founders marks the beginning of the end; if there are no founders, there is no country.

niki’s legacy is this: a nation. forget the bakery, forget the ravine, forget the rest of the world. niki’s legacy is wilbur soot, the president, the composer, speaking the words that are the undoing of the entire country. the death of the nation is the beginning and the end, and it is then that she realizes as long as l’manberg stands, there will be no peace.

eret, wilbur, and niki have their collective legacy:  _ it was never meant to be _ .

eret speaks the words. as wilbur is killed he thinks  _ no, it was  _ always _ meant to be _ .

wilbur speaks the words. as the world explodes niki thinks  _ no, it was  _ always  _ meant to be. _

niki speaks the words. as the tree burns down eret thinks  _ no, it was  _ always _ meant to be _ .

it was never meant to be. it was always meant to be.

is there a difference?

l’manberg is a nation born of war and killed by war. her children are the ones that suffer the most. there is a curse upon those born or brought into l’manberg; you will die for this city. you will live for this city. even after she is gone, you will never escape this city.

a button pressed. the founders killed. three of the four are children, three of the four are just following their leader’s orders. they’re killed for their trouble, one life down, one cross on the flag. in the moment eret has no regrets.

and tommy cries  _ you fucked up _ , and inside he is breaking. he is just following his brother, he didn’t want to die for his country, but now that he has, there’s no going back. it’s dream and the discs and the drugs and nothing else, nothing else matters-

nothing else matters except tubbo and fundy and wilbur, who are all waking up right next to him, their gear gone, their revolution destroyed.

and tommy writes, and writes, and writes- he writes to philza, he tells his father everything, and philza

doesn’t

come.

_ your fights are not mine _ , philza writes,  _ but keep telling me your stories. i am watching you _ . an angel of death to the last.

a button pressed. the land exploded. the people gathered are innocent, hopeful, excited that the tyrannical emperor is gone at last. they’re not killed, not in the blast, but their hope is. another cross on the flag. in the moment wilbur has no regrets.

( _ if i die this country goes down with me _ , schlatt said, and there is a curse on this land. the presidents are condemned to madness, but once l’manberg chooses a leader, they are hers. she goes down with them. wilbur loses his final life, and l’manberg’s second life breathes her last.)

and fundy watches as his father blows up everything they’ve fought for, journals hidden in an underground ravine detailing everything he did to try and help wilbur. he did so much, and he wrote and wrote and wrote, and wilbur

didn’t

listen.

_ i miss dad _ , fundy wrote,  _ i want to be able to see him. to tell him. but i’m doing this for him _ . all for nothing, apparently.

niki does not press a button when she takes l’manberg’s final life. niki was the one to create the massive flag, the three crosses. fundy burned it down and she screamed, fire in her eyes, smoke in her hair and burning her lungs, and the flames of revolution danced at her fingertips. now she stands before the tree, and l’manberg’s health is steadily decreasing. there is a flint and steel in her hands and the land itself whispers  _ do it, please, end my suffering _ . in the moment niki has no regrets, and once it’s done she doesn’t have any regrets, either.

(wilbur’s voice says  _ kill me _ in one ear and philza screams  _ you’re my son _ in the other, and l’manberg was the death of wilbur, so maybe she’ll be the death of l’manberg.)

she sets the tree alight.

she salutes as it burns down, her hair brighter than the flames, her eyes darker than the smoke. she tells this nation that it was a good friend, but

it was never meant to be.

ranboo watches, looking from the tree turning to ash to the sister he’s never had. ranboo watches and knows he will forget, but for now, there is only l’mantree, burning, and niki, saluting. he is part enderman, normally he does not make eye contact; right now, niki is refusing to meet his eyes.

he scribbles on the walls, later, of wherever he finds himself, because he knows if he doesn’t write it down he’ll forget. he drags his fingernails, raw and bloody, over wood and stone and carves out their stories, and no one

is there

to hear him.

_ niki burned it down _ , he writes,  _ she was the beginning and the end _ . if anyone deserves to play the villain, it is the daughter scorned. hell hath no fury, and all that.

it is not techno and dream that take l’manberg’s final life; that right does not belong to them, they who have done nothing but fight against her. family is those who you choose to let hurt you, and l’manberg chooses eret. she chooses wilbur, and schlatt, and tubbo. she chooses niki. it is they who hurt her the most, they who love her so much it is overwhelming.

eret takes her first life, not when dream blows her to hell, but when they betray her founders.

wilbur, schlatt, and tubbo work together to take her second life, not when wilbur blows her to hell, but when they each allow the curse laid over the presidents of the land to continue.

niki takes her final life, not when techno and dream blow her to bedrock, but when niki burns down the tree that has survived the previous two explosions, the previous two wars.

it’s called doomsday for a reason.

the end of the tree is not the end of the story, but it is the end of the country. it’s all downhill from there. niki salutes. wilbur salutes. eret salutes.

_ it was  _ (never always never always never always) _ meant to be. _

**Author's Note:**

> comments/kudos/etc are always appreciated!!!
> 
> [ twitter ](https://www.twitter.com/andthentheybow)
> 
> [ tumblr ](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/andthentheybow)


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